Jessica Simpson has kept mum about her pregnancy, even though it was becoming increasingly obvious she was ... until yesterday, on Halloween. She appears in photos posted on her own website, dressed in a weird frilly and slightly scary 'mummy' outfit.

1. OUR DAY WILL COME (Reggae Version): Re-working of classic 1960s doo-wop song produced by Salaam Remi Gibbs (better known as Salaam Remi) and recorded in May 2002.

2. BETWEEN THE CHEATS: Recorded in London in May 2008. Produced by Salaam Remi.

3. TEARS DRY: Original ballad version recorded in November 2005 in Miami with Salaam Remi. The later version appears on Back To Black.

4. WAKE UP ALONE: The first song recorded for the Back To Black sessions. This is the one-take demo recorded in March 2006 by Paul O'Duffy.

5. WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW: Version of the Carole King-written Shirelles classic. Produced by Mark Ronson and featuring the Dap Kings with string arrangements by Chris Elliott. Recorded in September 2004.

6. VALERIE: One of Amy's jukebox favourites, the original slower tempo version of the Mark Ronson-produced post-Back To Black single. Recorded in December 2006.

7. LIKE SMOKE featuring Nas: Amy and American rapper Nas became friends after Amy name-checked the New York rapper on Back To Black's Me & Mr Jones. Produced by Salaam Remi and recorded in May 2008.

8. THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA: The first song 18-year-old Amy sang when she went to Miami to record with Salaam Remi. Recorded in May 2002.

9. HALFTIME: Amy and Salaam Remi worked on Half-time since the Frank sessions. Recorded in August 2002.

10. BEST FRIENDS: Frank-era live set opener produced by Salaam Remi. Recorded in February 2003.

11. BODY & SOUL with Tony Bennett: Cover of 1930s jazz standard with Tony Bennett. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios London in March 2011 and produced by Phil Ramone.

12. A SONG FOR YOU: Heartbreaking and emotional version of the classic made famous by Donny Hathaway, Amy's favourite artist. The song was recorded in the spring of 2009. Produced by Salaam Remi.

Sunday, 30 October 2011

"Big Bad Wolf" "is pretty simple, and it can mean anything, really, so we wanted the video to have its own narrative," says A-Trak, one-half of the dance duo Duck Sauce, along with DJ Armand Van Helden.

"Remember when dance music videos used to actually be creative? Like when you think back to Aphex Twin, Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk… I don't know why the genre's videos became so generic in recent years.

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Reform: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first born child will inherit the throne after David Cameron struck a deal with Commonwealth leaders to end the rule that the first-born male takes the thrown

Girls born to members of the Royal Family are to be given equal rights with boys in the succession to the throne as centuries-old rules were overturned today.

As the historic changes to the monarchy were agreed, the Queen, at the Commonwealth summit in Perth, Australia, hailed the power of women to change the world.

The reforms mean the if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child is a girl, she will take precedence over any younger brothers in the order of succession.

The 16 Commonwealth 'realms', including the UK, Canada and Australia, also agreed to scrap outdated laws which ban anyone in the line of succession from marrying a Roman Catholic.

The changes were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.

As politicians unanimously agreed the dramatic reform to royal succession laws dating back more than 300 years, the Queen said the untapped potential of women and girls should be set free.

Speaking at the opening of the summit of the 53 Commonwealth countries, she said: 'The theme this year is Women As Agents of Change.

'It reminds us of the potential in our societies that is yet to be fully unlocked and it encourages us to find ways to allow all girls and women to play their full part.'

'We must continue to strive in our own countries and across the Commonwealth together to promote that theme in a lasting way beyond this year.'

Her comments will be taken as a sign that the Queen approves of the reform.

Friday, 28 October 2011

Before he left Los Angeles for San Francisco on Tuesday, President Barack Obama stopped for an undisclosed meeting with some of the entertainment industry's high-level executives, as well as talent representatives with access to the industry's top stars and musical acts, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

We hear people talking about so called "artists" such as Lady Gaga. Most have a very naive view of what these popular icons are really about and make passing comments about the pornographic nature of the videos. There is a school of thought that none of these artists have any control over their work and are victims of project Monarch. Monarch is a mind control project ran by the CIA which involves taking control of individuals minds by using hypnosis and trauma. By controlling these artists minds and ensuring they are then given maximum exposure in the media, means the sadistic group that has abused them are controlling the minds of millions of young people. The music makes listeners switch off to the world around them, thus making them more controllable. "Oh it's just harmless videos", well not quite ... If your kids are listening to this crap you need to be concerned.

He has struggled with addiction problems for most of his life but this morning Steven Tyler spoke out to refute claims that his horrific fall on Tuesday was caused by intoxication.

The 63-year-old Aerosmith front man called in to The Today Show to discuss the issue with host Matt Lauer and revealed an image of himself taken shortly after the fall in which he sported broken teeth and a nasty black eye.

Tyler, who fell whilst taking a shower, first entered rehab back in 1984 but insists that this time he was completely sober.

'I went in looking like Baryshnikov,and walked out looking like [boxer] Leon Spinks!' her told Lauer.

'Just quite frankly I passed out... I fell on my face, I woke up with the water running on me, not knowing where the hell I was.'

And when Lauer approached the subject of a relapse, the veteran rockstar was only too happy to clear the air.

'Being in the program I'm in, it's something we have to accept.

I went public with my problems only to address them straight on -- people thinking [I relapsed] is natural and normal.'

'It still bothers me a little, but it's something I'll have to deal with the rest of my life.'

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

If you have ever wondered about the government’s ability to control the civilian airwaves, you will have your answer on November 9th.

On that day, federal authorities are going to shut off all television and radio communications simultaneously at 2:00PM EST to complete the first ever test of the national Emergency Alert System (EAS).

Only the President has the authority to activate EAS at the national level, and he has delegated that authority to the Director of FEMA.

The test will be conducted jointly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS).

In essence, the authority to seize control of all television and civilian communication has been asserted by the executive branch and handed to a government agency.

Monday, 24 October 2011

The UN has warned world population could reach 15 billion by 2100, adding pressure to crowded cities such as New Delhi. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

Nearly 7 billion people now inhabit planet but projections that number will double this century have shocked academics.

The United Nations will warn this week that the world's population could more than double to 15 billion by the end of this century, putting a catastrophic strain on the planet's resources unless urgent action is taken to curb growth rates, the Observer can reveal.

That figure is likely to shock many experts as it is far higher than many current estimates. A previous UN estimate had expected the world to have more than 10 billion people by 2100; currently, there are nearly 7 billion.

The report –The State of World Population 2011 – is being compiled to mark the expected moment this month when somewhere on Earth a person will be born who will take the current world population over the 7 billion mark, and will be released simultaneously in cities across the globe.

Some experts reacted with shock to the figure. Roger Martin, chairman of Population Matters, which campaigns on population control, said that the Earth was entering a dangerous new phase.

"Our planet is approaching a perfect storm of population growth, climate change and peak oil," he said. "The planet is not actually sustaining 7 billion people."

The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises.

A major document from the Vatican's Justice and Peace department should be music to the ears of the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.

The 18-page document, "Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority," was at times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on financial transactions.

It condemned what it called "the idolatry of the market" as well as a "neo-liberal thinking" that it said looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems.

"In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviors like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale," it said, adding that world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among rich and poor nations.

"If no solutions are found to the various forms of injustice, the negative effects that will follow on the social, political and economic level will be destined to create a climate of growing hostility and even violence, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic institutions, even the ones considered most solid," it said.

It called for the establishment of "a supranational authority" with worldwide scope and "universal jurisdiction" to guide economic policies and decisions.

Such an authority should start with the United Nations as its reference point but later become independent and be endowed with the power to see to it that developed countries were not allowed to wield "excessive power over the weaker countries."

Some people have started realizing that there are large financial groups that dominate the world. Forget the political intrigues, conflicts, revolutions and wars. It is not pure chance. Everything has been planned for a long time.

Some call it "conspiracy theories" or New World Order. Anyway, the key to understanding the current political and economic events is a restricted core of families who have accumulated more wealth and power.

We are speaking of 6, 8 or maybe 12 families who truly dominate the world. Know that it is a mystery difficult to unravel.

We will not be far from the truth by citing Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Loebs Kuh and Lehmans in New York, the Rothschilds of Paris and London, the Warburgs of Hamburg, Paris and Lazards Israel Moses Seifs Rome.

Many people have heard of the Bilderberg Group, Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission. But what are the names of the families who run the world and have control of states and international organizations like the UN, NATO or the IMF?

To try to answer this question, we can start with the easiest: inventory, the world's largest banks, and see who the shareholders are and who make the decisions.

Sunday, 23 October 2011

This undated photo provided by EarthCam, shows the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, in New York, through a fisheye lens mounted in its torch. Five torch cams will be switched on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, during a ceremony to commemorate the statue's dedication. The five cameras, which will be on 24 hours, 7 days a week, were donated to the National Park Service by Earthcam Inc., a New Jersey-based company that manages a network of webcams around the world. (AP Photo/EarthCam, James Nicoll)

Give me your tired, your poor - your Internet-connected masses yearning to see. Lady Liberty is getting high-tech gifts for her 125th birthday: webcams on her torch that will let viewers gaze out at New York Harbor and read the tablet in her hands or see visitors on the grounds of the island below in real time.

The five torch cams are to be switched on Friday during a ceremony to commemorate the dedication of the Statue of Liberty on Oct. 28, 1886. The ceremony caps a week of events centered around the historic date, including the debut of a major museum exhibition about poet Emma Lazarus, who helped bring the monument renown as the "Mother of Exiles."

The statue's webcams will offer views from the torch that have been unavailable to the public since 1916, said Stephen A. Briganti, the president of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Inc.

"The statue is the most famous symbol in the world," he said. "Most of the people in the world have seen it, but they have not seen it like this. It will be a visit that so many people, including New Yorkers, have never taken before."

A ceremony of dedication was held on the afternoon of October 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland, the former New York governor, presided over the event. On the morning of the dedication, a parade was held in New York City; estimates of the number of people who watched it ranged from several hundred thousand to a million. President Cleveland headed the procession, then stood in the reviewing stand to see bands and marchers from across America. General Stone was the grand marshal of the parade. The route began at Madison Square, once the venue for the arm, and proceeded to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan by way of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, with a slight detour so the parade could pass in front of the World building on Park Row. As the parade passed the New York Stock Exchange, traders threw ticker tape from the windows, beginning the New York tradition of the ticker-tape parade.

A nautical parade began at 12:45 p.m., and President Cleveland embarked on a yacht that took him across the harbor to Bedloe's Island for the dedication. De Lesseps made the first speech, on behalf of the French committee, followed by the chairman of the New York committee, Senator William M. Evarts. A French flag draped across the statue's face was to be lowered to unveil the statue at the close of Evarts's speech, but Bartholdi mistook a pause as the conclusion and let the flag fall prematurely. The ensuing cheers put an end to Evarts's address. President Cleveland spoke next, stating that the statue's "stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man's oppression until Liberty enlightens the world". Bartholdi, observed near the dais, was called upon to speak, but he refused. Orator Chauncey M. Depew concluded the speechmaking with a lengthy address.

No members of the general public were permitted on the island during the ceremonies, which were reserved entirely for dignitaries. The only females granted access were Bartholdi's wife and de Lesseps's granddaughter; officials stated that they feared women might be injured in the crush of people. The restriction offended area suffragists, who chartered a boat and got as close as they could to the island. The group's leaders made speeches applauding the embodiment of Liberty as a woman and advocating women's right to vote. A scheduled fireworks display was postponed until November 1 because of poor weather.